DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 4 TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON FOR NATIONWIDE SYNTHETIC IDENTITY FRAUD SCHEME

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that defendant Adam Arena was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison for Grand Larceny in the Second Degree in connection with a nationwide operation to create and use synthetic identities to commit fraud.

“This defendant participated in an elaborate, nationwide scheme with other individuals to defraud financial institutions by assisting in the creation of synthetic identities in order to obtain fraudulent loans and credit cards,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Working in cooperation with our local and federal law enforcement partners, we were able to bring him to justice in both state and federal court, and he will serve a substantial prison sentence for his crimes.” 

Arena, 46, who is currently serving a federal prison sentence in connection to this scheme and other unrelated white collar crimes, was sentenced on January 19, 2023 to the Suffolk County charges before Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Timothy P. Mazzei.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office’s Financial Crimes Bureau and the Suffolk County Police Department’s Financial Crimes Unit began an investigation into suspected identity fraud at several banks and credit unions in August 2018.

During the investigation, evidence revealed that more than 20 synthetic identities had been created and used in Suffolk County to fraudulently obtain loans and credit card accounts from 19 different financial institutions.

Participants in the scheme would create synthetic identities by using personal identification information from real persons and then opening accounts and establishing credit in other identities. The conspirators took numerous steps to make the synthetic identities appear legitimate, and to fraudulently build credit for the synthetic identities. Thereafter, the synthetic identities were used to steal funds from financial institutions.

Arena was charged as part of a 108-count indictment in February 2020 that included 13 individuals and three corporations.

Arena pleaded guilty on March 1, 2021 before Judge Mazzei to the following charges:

Two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a Class C felony;

One count of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a Class D felony;

One count of Criminal Possession of Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, a Class D felony;

One count of Money Laundering in the Fourth Degree, a Class E felony; and

One count of Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a Class E felony.

In addition to the indeterminate sentence of 4 to 12 years, Arena was also required to pay, through restitution judgment orders, restitution in the amount of approximately $523,000 to the financial institutions impacted by this scheme. He was represented by Robin Yanes, Esq. of Los Angeles, California.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jessica Lightstone of the Financial Crimes Bureau.

The District Attorney’s Office conducted this investigation in conjunction Suffolk County Police Department, the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General, the U.S. Secret Service, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion credit bureaus, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Riverside District Attorney’s Office and Riverside Sheriff’s Office in California.

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Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

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